Was this ad appropiate?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.friendsofmpl.org/images/MAO.pdf

The Minneapolis Public Library has come under LOTS of fire for it.

[Gabu]

http://www.friendsofmpl.org/images/MAO.pdf

The Minneapolis Public Library has come under LOTS of fire for it.

I think it's a pretty damn stupid ad, but I don't see why they shouldn't be able to run it if they want to.

[Alcon]

Wow, crediting Mao is certainly going to get you a lot of good attention! They should have expected what they got.

[PBrunsel]

Glorifying Mao is a terrible thing.

[TheWildCard]

This one goes into the "Legal but Idiotic" file.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Whoever came up with this ad needs some re-education, in at least simple truths.  If China had to have a period of Communist  rule in its history, it would have been much better off with almost any other Communist in charge than Mao, and that's without even debating the merits and flaws of Communism itself.

[Blue Rectangle]

Whoops, they forgot to mention Mao's Cultural Revolution, which persecuted academics and sent the brightest scholars of the young generation out to hard labor on farms.  I'm not sure an anti-intellectual purge is something a library would want to associate itself with.

Oh, and he slaughtered millions too...

This is like the Department of Transportation making an ad comparing itself to that other great road builder: Hitler.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I don't think the ad is exactly glorifying Mao, it's more using him as a contrast, pointing out he created the "least diverse collection of books" while the library allows free expression.

Another ad in the series that came under fire uses J. Edgar Hoover and his spying on libraries.

[ATFFL]

I love it.

It is especially useful when people who are that incredibly ing stupid make it so obviosu that they are, in fact, that incredibly ing stupid.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I love it.

It is especially useful when people who are that incredibly g stupid make it so obviosu that they are, in fact, that incredibly g stupid.

Being incredibly ing stupid and acting incredibily ing stupid must have 94% correlation.

[ATFFL]

I love it.

It is especially useful when people who are that incredibly g stupid make it so obviosu that they are, in fact, that incredibly g stupid.

Being incredibly g stupid and acting incredibily g stupid must have 94% correlation.

Oh, how I wish they did.

[Citizen James]

Great, now I've got the beatles song stuck in my head...

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[2952-0-0]

SH*T!! That stank!! Comparing a library to Mao? Hey, even the CCP admits that Mao made some serious screw-ups!!

[Gabu]

SH*T!! That stank!! Comparing a library to Mao? Hey, even the CCP admits that Mao made some serious screw-ups!!

I don't think that they're comparing themselves to Mao; they're just saying "Mao used to be a librarian, and that's kind of interesting".

That does not, however, make it any less stupid of an ad.

[2952-0-0]

and three of us voted yes...

[Richard]

Where's the option of "I couldn't give a damn?"

[David S]

This one goes into the "Legal but Idiotic" file.

^^^^^^

[dazzleman]

I don't think the ad is exactly glorifying Mao, it's more using him as a contrast, pointing out he created the "least diverse collection of books" while the library allows free expression.

Another ad in the series that came under fire uses J. Edgar Hoover and his spying on libraries.

I don't think you can compare the evil of Mao to J. Edgar Hoover.  J. Edgar Hoover did not kill millions of people.

This ad is stupid.  It would definitely deter me from contributing to the library in any way, and will probably undermine public support.

They were trying to be creative, but I think they went a little too far.  The ad is not sufficiently critical of Mao.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

these are the other 3 ads in the series:

http://www.friendsofmpl.org/images/LUV.pdf
http://www.friendsofmpl.org/images/BAT.pdf
http://www.friendsofmpl.org/images/FBI.pdf

so it's sort of a "famous librarians" thing, although in this case they could've probably picked a better example. I still say though the ad is hardly glorifying Mao ("least diverse collection of books")

[Blue Rectangle]

Maybe the city art museum can run a "famous artists" ad campaign featuring Hitler.

Maybe the local NPR station can run a "famous radio engineers" campaign featuring Pol Pot.

Maybe the local school district can run a "famous principals" campaign featuring Mussolini.

The library is free to say what they want, but making so light of a mass murderer is pretty weak.

[Gabu]

Maybe the city art museum can run a "famous artists" ad campaign featuring Hitler.

Hitler was actually a very good artist, oddly enough.

[??????????]

Maybe the city art museum can run a "famous artists" ad campaign featuring Hitler.

Hitler was actually a very good artist, oddly enough.

Ha! Mediocre artist to say the least.

[12th Doctor]

Not inappropriate.  Just stupid.